Blinded by Science!

Cutting to the chase, I was looking up the reason why raw potatoes should not be refrigerated. My search brought up the same answer repeatedly:
-it will discolor
-it might change texture-it will convert the natural starch into sugar

That last point is the one I'm hoping to focus on.
Later on, I was contemplating a roasted beet borscht, and found plenty of recipes. Many called for the potatoes to be roasted as well.

The reason? :The starch will convert both of the veggies starches into natural sugar.

My question:
If you put aside that someone might not care about texture and discoloration of refrigerated potatoes, do you really have to throw them out? How are they "ruined"? Doesn't hot potato equal the same as cold potato given the end result of roasting?

I'm not sure but haven't looked into it yet. Plus I've haven't had borscht either. I'd say it still is relativity ruined. The starches that are converting into sugars are doing so at chilled temperatures with average to high humidity rather than roasting temperatures with low to no humidity. So its more or less rotting I guess? Take a small bite if your confident enough it won't make you sick? As a late teenager a coworker bet me $25 bucks that I wouldn't eat a raw chicken gizard, but I wanted beer money so... Anyways I'm not sure; all I know is I hate when my roommate stores em in the fridge even though I'm reading a cooking textbook's section on purchasing and storage practices right in front of him. Oh and you're not the only bored one today, the last thread I've started is equally "Derrrr?!" about something I'm pretty confident will work anyways. http://www.cheftalk.com/t/88601/small-batch-infused-oils

I'm not sure but haven't looked into it yet. Plus I've haven't had borscht either. I'd say it still is relativity ruined. The starches that are converting into sugars are doing so at chilled temperatures with average to high humidity rather than roasting temperatures with low to no humidity. So its more or less rotting I guess? Take a small bite if your confident enough it won't make you sick? As a late teenager a coworker bet me $25 bucks that I wouldn't eat a raw chicken gizard, but I wanted beer money so... Anyways I'm not sure; all I know is I hate when my roommate stores em in the fridge even though I'm reading a cooking textbook's section on purchasing and storage practices right in front of him. Oh and you're not the only bored one today, the last thread I've started is equally "Derrrr?!" about something I'm pretty confident will work anyways. http://www.cheftalk.com/t/88601/small-batch-infused-oils

Hey there, Gizzard guy (or gal) (:
Thanks for responding.

I'm pretty sure it won't make someone sick, but your point about chilled versus heated makes sense to me. Truth is I bought some taters and was in a hurry to go somewhere so tossed them in the fridge along with some other veggies without thinking. They were all in the same bag, so I was just focused on "must put in fridge before I leave."

The intent wasn't to roast them and use them in borscht, but rather to try and figure out if there is any use for them. I suppose since they are gonna.be sweet, maybe some sort of latke or something. I will probably just toss them honestly if no one chimes in because they costed maybe a buck fifty. Yesterday's post was mostly to procrastinate cleaning my storage room.

I will check out your post, and by the way, you should try some borscht one day!

Potatoes should be stored at about 40F. Your refrigerator should be colder than that.

Store it in a barrel of dirt in your cellar

Thanks for the reply. I know they should be stored at that, but I'm not overly concerned about quality in this case. Just wondered if I could still make use of em. Everything I've read tells me they can't make me sick... But then again, I'm trusting google and sometimes they are not the most reliable source.

Can't help with the science. Watch my carb intake and try to limit carbs/ sugar.Used to buy 5-10 lb bags, as they were cheaper than buying individually. Most were less than perfect. I used a potato peeler, cut off the skin and eyes, rinsed and made mashed potatoes.Edited by Cerise - 2/10/16 at 9:50am

The second two are the same. If-IF- you leave potayoes in the fridge long enough yo convert their starch to sugar, they won't get soft when you cook them. Only recall seeing it happen once, so it's not an overnight thing.

I didn't use the taters in the soup because I didn't want to waste the other ingredients if it didn't work out, however, they seemed ok boiled separately. I don't think there was any wrong or right answer based on this experiment. Timing and temp seem the defining factor, as pointed out by the respondents.